Align Hatches to Longest Edge

Question

It would be great if there were a way to quickly align hatches to objects. As landscape architects, we are constantly using hatches to represent paving patterns where directionality is key. It is very cumbersome to manually control the alignment of hatches using the Attribute Mapping Tool. Instead, it would be amazing if there were a way to align hatches to the longest edge or some other auto-align feature, similar to the auto-align features present with mapping rendering textures.

Often they are one and the same, so it would be even better if aligning one (either texture or hatch) would align the other.

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@ericjhberg I agree, particularly in regards to the Attribute Mapping Tool. Perhaps a variation to a auto align feature would be to allow the entry of a horizontal and vertical (or angled) non-printing control lines relative to which the pattern generates. Not unlike how such a layout might be done by workmen in the field.

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I hesitate to support any option that requires additional input first, i.e. dragging a line to orient the hatch. This is essentially the way the software works now with the Attribute Mapping tool.

Instead, I imagine a checkbox functionality that would do its best to determine an auto-orientation based on either longest edge or some other factor. From there, if tweaking is still needed, the attribute mapping tool could be further used to manually set orientations.